The Brief (The Problem)
In 2013, Poo~Pourri launched "Girls Don't Poop," a campaign that fundamentally redefined how taboo products are marketed online, ultimately driving over 40 million views. My initial role was handling the VFX and motion graphics, including complex post-production bottle replacements as the brand evolved its packaging.
In 2013, Poo~Pourri launched "Girls Don't Poop," a campaign that fundamentally redefined how taboo products are marketed online, ultimately driving over 40 million views. My initial role was handling the VFX and motion graphics, including complex post-production bottle replacements as the brand evolved its packaging.
By 2016, the brand had exploded. They needed to prove their viral success wasn't a fluke. They brought BOLDRUSH in to produce a massive three-commercial expansion pack (including "How to Poop on a Date"). The catch? They wanted three premium, highly stylized, viral-ready commercials shot over a single three-day period with a total production budget of roughly $100K.
The Strategy
When you have three days and $100K to shoot three distinct, high-expectation commercials, you cannot rely on fix-it-in-post laziness. The strategy was extreme pre-production efficiency and crew consolidation. I partnered with DP Tel Stewart to ensure the visual language matched the premium, brightly lit, Wes Anderson-esque aesthetic of the original, while I architected a production schedule that allowed us to rapid-fire through different scripts, sets, and gags without burning the budget on idle crew time.
When you have three days and $100K to shoot three distinct, high-expectation commercials, you cannot rely on fix-it-in-post laziness. The strategy was extreme pre-production efficiency and crew consolidation. I partnered with DP Tel Stewart to ensure the visual language matched the premium, brightly lit, Wes Anderson-esque aesthetic of the original, while I architected a production schedule that allowed us to rapid-fire through different scripts, sets, and gags without burning the budget on idle crew time.
The Execution (The Reality)
I did not write the scripts, and I did not cast the talent—my job was to take the client's creative IP and physically will it into existence under an incredibly tight financial ceiling.
I did not write the scripts, and I did not cast the talent—my job was to take the client's creative IP and physically will it into existence under an incredibly tight financial ceiling.
• The Production: I operated as the Lead Producer, hiring and managing the entire crew to pull off a grueling 3-commercial, 3-day shoot.
• The Post-Pipeline: Once the physical production wrapped, I stepped into the post-production bay, co-editing the spots with Tel Stewart and personally executing the motion graphics and visual effects required to land the visual punchlines.
• The Creative Synergy: Before the 2016 shoot, during my time at Greenroom Communications, I had actually pitched a musical "Santa Poops" concept, even designing winter-themed wardrobe sketches. Whether by great minds thinking alike or parallel development, our aesthetic fingerprints were perfectly aligned when Poo~Pourri brought us their next scripts.
The ROI (Digital Analytics & ROAS)
Poo~Pourri doesn't just buy views for vanity; their entire business model relies on strict performance marketing (they are ruthless about Return on Ad Spend). They only fund videos that actively convert viewers into paying customers.
Poo~Pourri doesn't just buy views for vanity; their entire business model relies on strict performance marketing (they are ruthless about Return on Ad Spend). They only fund videos that actively convert viewers into paying customers.
• Budget Efficiency: Delivering three premium commercials for roughly $100K in hard production costs is an absurdly high margin of efficiency. We gave their media buyers the exact premium assets they needed to go to work.
• Estimated Media Spend & Scale: The 2016 expansion ads generated tens of millions of views across YouTube and Facebook ("How to Poop on a Date" alone sits in the multi-millions). In the 2016 digital landscape, an average YouTube Cost Per View (CPV) sat between $0.05 and $0.10. To scale an ad to 10M+ views, a brand must deploy an estimated $500K to $1M+ in paid media spend per video. * The Revenue Proof: Because DTC brands immediately cut funding to underperforming ads, the fact that Poo~Pourri pushed millions of dollars in paid media behind the assets we produced is the ultimate proof of success. They wouldn't have spent $1M+ distributing our commercials unless those commercials were actively driving multi-millions in bottom-line product sales.
• Budget Efficiency: Delivering three premium commercials for roughly $100K in hard production costs is an absurdly high margin of efficiency for a brand of this scale.
• Digital Dominance: The 2016 expansion ads generated tens of millions of views on YouTube alone ("How to Poop on a Date" and "Even Santa Poops" both reliably pulled millions of individual views).
• Brand Expansion: Our production work helped successfully transition Poo~Pourri from a "one-hit viral video" into a sustained, multi-campaign digital marketing powerhouse.
• Budget Efficiency: Delivering three premium commercials for roughly $100K in hard production costs is an absurdly high margin of efficiency for a brand of this scale.
• Digital Dominance: The 2016 expansion ads generated tens of millions of views on YouTube alone ("How to Poop on a Date" and "Even Santa Poops" both reliably pulled millions of individual views).
• Brand Expansion: Our production work helped successfully transition Poo~Pourri from a "one-hit viral video" into a sustained, multi-campaign digital marketing powerhouse.
The Bottom Line: Poo~Pourri built the scripts; I built the production machine. I took a highly constrained $100K budget, managed the crew, executed the VFX, and delivered three massive digital hits that kept a viral titan at the top of the cultural conversation.
